Succession Planning - Solaris Consulting Firm

Succession planning is quite simply the company’s internal strategy for identifying talented employees at all levels of the company and developing them into the future leaders.

As simple as the definition sounds, many companies fail to properly implement a successful system. Why do we need a succession plan? No matter how well you lead your company, you will have turnover. Turnover can happen through a number of ways including resignations, retirements, terminations, major illnesses and even death.

A recent poll indicated that 65 % of companies have succession plans. Of those companies, one-third of them indicated that the programs were not very effective. In addition to these alarming statistics on succession planning, 5 out of 6 HR professionals are dissatisfied with their succession planning process and the tools they are given to implement the program.

The first thing you need to create is a solid criteria for identifying “high potentials” within your organization. Having an executive review team to finalize the performance review process will provide consistency within your succession planning system and ensure you have identified the right candidates. The next step is to ensure that the right performance review data is being analyzed. From there, you must link the company values into your succession plan. Finally, the company should have a way to test employees through new assignments or special projects where they are placed into a leadership role capacity.

The company should also identify “high potentials” at all levels of the company.Companies that evaluate all areas of the company for “high potentials” are more likely to outperform their competitors in their industry. Solaris can assist with identifying these “high potentials” within your organization and help establish an advancement path for each individual.

Every company’s succession planning system should be directly hardwired into the company’s hiring strategy. Another value of a properly established succession plan is that you can easily identify talent gaps within the organization.

Solaris consulting will provide you with the tools to assist you in identifying and developing your future leaders by integrating the succession planning process into your existing company culture. A succession plan is an investment in the future of your company. Creating a “high potential” process is vital to filling a company’s leadership pipeline. Without an affective succession plan, the changeover in leadership can be catastrophic. Having the leadership skills and values integrated into the succession plan will help to ensure an easier transition. Likewise having a strong succession plan in place will make your employees feel more valued within the company. You will be recognizing their contributions and grooming them to become future leaders.